Jackson answered thoughtfully and well, I thought. He defended his guy, of course–and there is much to defend about Lee, I will be (one of) the first to agree. Lee is having an excellent, excellent offensive season and his rebounding is essential for the Warriors, too.

But Jackson acknowledged that he wasn’t going to toss out all of the conclusions about Lee’s defense and I give Jackson absolute credit for that.

The larger issue is what the Warriors can and will do about it–adjust the defense, find the right match-ups, and… well, just read the Q & A…

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—-MARK JACKSON pre-game presser partial transcript/

-Q: Are you aware of this statistical analysis of David Lee’s interior defense? Do you dislike hearing about it, do you think there’s something to the conclusion that opponents score at a higher rate inside against him than anybody else? Do you think some of it is true?

-JACKSON: I’m aware of it. I think with all of those numbers, some of it is true.

At the end of the day, that’s not going to do anything for me coaching, because those same folks could put that data together and then tell me who to play…

I’ve got an All-Star power forward that’s having a great, great season, that’s battling, that’s competing, that’s paying attention to detail on the defensive end, that’s one of the main reasons why we’re able to say as of now we’re a playoff basketball team.

So I understand the data. I think it’s some truth. But I don’t think it tells the whole story.

He’s come a long way. And he’s done a great job making me a better coach.

-Q: Not trying to get you to criticize him, but you’ve stayed away from putting Lee on better power forwards defensively–I think he defended Carmelo one time the other night. You tend to keep him away from the best power forwards…

-JACKSON: Not necessarily true. I understand the question, but Carmelo Anthony–there’s not a power forward in the game that can guard him. I would make the case there’s not a small forward in the game that can guard him.

So for example when the Knicks play Carmelo at the 4, they basically have a weaker offensive guy on the floor. And it was an easy call to put David Lee on–with all due respect–James White. And if James White wouldn’t have started, I’d put him on Jason Kidd.

Carmelo Anthony’s just as good as you get on the offensive end.

Tonight David Lee will be starting on Carlos Boozer. If he wasn’t that good defensively, with all due respect–Boozer is a tougher match-up for a defensive guy individually than Noah. Noah’s spectacular and he’s an All-Star, but Boozer is a proven guy that can go out and get 20 to 25.

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(Against Detroit, Lee) didn’t start on Maxiel, he started on Greg Monroe. So at the end of the day, I’m not going to hide him. He’s doing a very good job competing, battling and forcing guys to guard him.

I’d like to see the pictures of the power forwards that he’s faced trying to guard him. He’s had a great year, an incredible year, against somebody.

But I understand that there’s some truth to it. He’s not a great defensive player. But he’s a guy that’s going to battle and compete.

-Q: When you have Lee and Bogut out there, how difficult is it to defend stretch 4s? What can you do to off-set the problems?

-JACKSON: Unless you have a stretch 4, there’s always going to be some issues defending a stretch 4. They put you in pick-and-rolls and they use stretch 4s for a reason.

Those guys make it tough. You look at the Houston Rockets, they’re successful because of that. What you want to do is make them pay the price on the other end, posting them up and taking advantage of the size and the strength.

But defensively it’s going to be a challenge. That’s even if you had Carl and David in the game at the same time. It’s just, a stretch 4, put that 4 man in position to stretch the defense and get a shot… The thing you want to do is make them pay on the other end.

It takes quicker rotations and it takes active perimeter guys to get back into the picture so that the help doesn’t get extended. So it’s not just that primary defender, the big, it’s everybody on board making life easier for them.

-Q: As you get toward playoff-style basketball down the stretch, does the decision come down to Jack or Barnes playing to close games or is Jack + the other four starters a set group as the finishing group?

-JACKSON: I won’t say anybody’s set. If Jack plays bad, chances are he won’t be in there. He’s had a great year for us, he gives us an extra ball-handler, a proven guy, his toughness, he’s not afraid of the moment. And I think it makes Steph and Klay, they’re weapons, they’re legitimate weapons.

Harrison is a rookie who’s played very, very well for us and he’s continuing to get better. And I’m not married to any five guys ending a game. I’m going to do whatever I think is best to win a game.

-Q: Landry had the good game when he started after Lee got suspended, but other than that, his numbers are way down–and you seem to have responded to that by dropping his minutes way down. How can you explain what’s going on with Landry lately?

-JACKSON: Some of it is the stretch 4s. When you talk about having to guard Delfino, it didn’t make sense to put him out there because we weren’t exploiting that match-up on our offensive end. And then stretching the floor made it tough.

He’s going to be fine. He has been a post presence for us off the bench, he’s played a lot of minutes, along with David and backing up David. He’s going to be just fine.

I think it’s been a long year. And probably better to ask him, but fatigue plays a part. But at the end of the day, I have extreme confidence in him. I’m very comfortable with putting him on the floor. It’s really not an issue other than the fact that he hasn’t played as well lately.

And I thought that the last two or three games Festus has really played some of his best basketball. He’s really helped us on the boards and defensively. So the same way I went with Carl with a smaller line-up because he was our best big other than David when Bogut wasn’t in the line-up, it’s pretty much given Festus a chance and it’ll be a feel thing.

But Carl is certainly going to be getting his touches and his time.

-Q: You’ve played Barnes a little at the 4 lately. To match-up with stretch 4s and maybe to give that second unit more scoring, could Barnes see more time at the 4?

-JACK: He could. He has the size. I think it’s important, not just for him, but whoever’s on the floor at that time to make sure that we don’t lose anything rebounding-wise. They’ve got to be committed to doing it collectively.

But he certainly has the size, the athletic ability… and he’s a guy that can fit the role as a stretch 4 with that size. It just depends on who we’re facing and that we’re not giving up too much as far as size.

Our 2nd unit sucks, Dominic McGuire is available. Yet we sign some guy who doesn’t play because they are afraid to stunt Draymond Greens growth. Somebody tell them that there’s only 15 games left, winning needs to come first. Draymond is not turning into Shane Battier these final few weeks.

Niners in 2012

Draymond Green, while shooting 32%, 22% on 3s this year is getting meaningful minutes. Somebody explain this one to me.

Mano de Nada

Sure, Draymond is an intelligent rookie whose strengths are little things like positioning and D; he’s not on the floor for his offense. I like the idea of bringing back McGuire as a cheap stop gap, but he wouldn’t be on the floor for his offense, either.

Oscar

Yes Dominic mcGuire is gonna help that second unit. He is available because he is not very good. He is a useless offensively and makes draymond look like ray Allen shooting the ball. The second unit doesn’t need another defender they need a guy who can score. This team misses rush